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K-commerce:
profiting from knowledge |
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The focus of many knowledge management initiatives is inwards, such as sharing best practice. However, given proper attention many companies can develop new revenue streams by packaging and trading unexploited knowledge assets. The growth of the Internet, and particularly ecommerce (se Insight No. 23 on Internet Commerce) is leading to the emergence of knowledge markets, that is lowering the cost and increasing the market reach for trading knowledge. This Insight considers the different ways in which enterprise knowledge can be more effectively exploited. What is K-Commerce? K-Commerce (Knowledge Commerce) is the trading of knowledge in a variety of forms using electronic networks. Although knowledge is already packaged and traded, as in the case of licenses for patent exploitation, the use of the Internet creates many for opportunities for profiting from investment in knowledge development. K-Commerce represents a convergence of practices in four areas:
Opportunities and Benefits By deliberately creating knowledge-intensive products and services, and using the Internet as a marketing vehicle, the following benefits can be achieved:
Packaging Even a company that sells physical products probably has a wealth of unexploited knowledge in the 'product surround', those intangibles that make the product attractive to users. This is likely to be knowledge of markets, applications, underlying technologies and business processes. Such knowledge may be offered in the form of implementation, training, and consultancy services or in various add-on products such as user guides or software. The opportunities for commercialization can be enhanced through packaging. This involves some form of codification from tacit knowledge to knowledge in a more explicit form such as in documents, databases and computer software. What starts as uncodified knowledge, often a set of ideas, is gradually shaped through dialogue and expression into something more tangible Much knowledge in organizations is neither explicitly codified nor commercialized. Thus many knowledge management initiatives identify important tacit knowledge, held by a few experts, that is capable of codification and would benefits many other people. In general, the greater the degree of codification of knowledge the more easy it is to reproduce and disseminate, especially if advantage is taken of the Internet. Successful Strategies The emergence of ecommerce and knowledge markets is new that there is no simple cook-book of winning strategies. You only have to consider what were seen as "crazy ideas" in the knowledge economy only a year or so ago, such as giving free Internet access, or allowing customers product reviews to be publicized without any vetting. However, there are some guidelines that are likely to stand the test of time:
Inside-Out Almost every activity that is carried out as part of a knowledge management initiative can, if though about properly, give rise to an external commercialization opportunity. For example, the practice shown on the left below can be turned into products and services shown on the right:
Many organizations are now realizing this potential and as well as developing knowledge-based products and services are exploiting the results of their internal knowledge management initiatives, as the examples below indicate. Examples Examples of the different ways in which organizations are commercializing knowledge and gaining the benefits of k-commerce are:
© Copyright. David J. Skyrme. 2000. This material may be copied or distributed subject to the terms of our copyright conditions (no commercial gain; complete page copying etc.) See also the related Insight on Internet Commerce. There is also a paper (Word for Windows format) on the wider knowledge economy and a presentation on this topic. Also relevant are a series of I3 UPDATE articles on the 7Ps of Internet Marketing, starting with Portals. Also check the K-Commerce Contents list. Go to Insights - List of Titles for full listing of other Insights on this Web site. Back to: Top - What Is? - Benefits - Packaging - Strategies -
Inside-Out - Examples - Feedback Management Insights are publications of David Skyrme Associates, who offers strategic consulting, presentations and workshops on many of these topics. Additional coverage of these topics can be found in our free monthly briefing I3 UPDATE/ENTOVATION International News, various articles, publications and presentations. ![]() Home | Search | I3 UPDATE | Insights | Resources | About Us | E-mail Us |
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